Pot and King Heroin: Dangers of Drug Abuse

If marijuana use is legal, does that make it moral? Does God accept use of recreational drugs? Does marijuana lead to use of stronger drugs? What does the Bible say?

Voice of One Who Has Been There

I read the following some time ago from one who has experienced drug abuse:

I started getting high to be “in,” to go along with my friends. I immediately went down in school. Pot disrupts the memory banks in your brain … And pot DOES lead to the use of other drugs. People who get stoned get to where they don’t care about anything but getting high. And after a while pot just doesn’t get you high enough. I got kicked out … of school completely ‘cause I was always skipping out to get high. Finally I got kicked out of my parents’ house (after getting put in jail several times) because I became moody, restless, incommunicative and because I was out all hours of the day and night partying with my friends. I’ve been living on the streets supporting myself for a year. I’ve done every drug you can think of. I went through h--- getting off speed. Messed up my nose terribly on coke (and my arms) and three times I almost OD’ed on Acid. I’d been doing drugs for 3 years and I finally quit cold turkey a few months ago. I got some friends to talk to and I got a steady job. For the first time in 3 years I can think clearly and I’m really free. Drugs are a trap. … I’ve seen plenty of people die of overdoses. And I’ve seen several people murdered over dope deals. All of them, including me, started out just smoking an occasional joint on weekends “to go along with our friends.” I know I ruined my life. I once had a pretty bright future with a lot of opportunities. Now I work all day to stay alive. I’m 16. … - Young Once, March, 1980 (reprinted in Powerline, Vol. V, #9).

A Lonely Little Petunia in an Onion Patch

Should Christians be different from the world? What servants of God were non-conformists? What standard of conduct should we follow: the Bible or the world?

When I was young, I liked to visit an aunt and uncle who had songs I played on their record player. One of the songs was “I'm a Lonely Little Petunia in an Onion Patch.”

The Petunia was a pretty flower that smelled good, but it was surrounded by onions that are not pretty like flowers and do not smell good. The song illustrated a person who was completely different from the people around him.

In many ways, Christians are petunias in an onion patch. Consider some lessons we can learn.

Singing, Creation, Children, and Instrumental Music

Why do babies love singing even more than instrumental music? Why is singing important in worship? What does this show about creation?

From birth, every child loves to hear singing. Have you ever wondered why?

Our God-Given Ability to Appreciate Vocal Music

An article in a creationist magazine describes a study of MRI scans of the human brain. They determined there is a “unique area of the brain, which appears purpose-built to analyze singing” (not just to analyze sound or even music in general, but specifically vocal music).

“The results showed that ‘the response to sung music was substantially and significantly higher than the sum of the response to speech and instrumental music.’ … Research indicates that it’s a top-down ‘hard-wired’ capability…” given even to infants.*

To paraphrase, all people are born with a God-given ability to recognize, appreciate, and respond favorably to vocal music. From birth, not only can we distinguish singing from speaking and from instrumental music, but we give a “significantly higher” response to vocal music than to speech or to instrumental music.